Ukraine cops get ‘shoot-to-kill orders’ amid unrest over army hit & run killing of 8yo

Police have reportedly been allowed to use live rounds as tensions flare in the eastern Ukrainian town of Konstantinovka, where an eight-year-old girl was killed in a hit-and-run accident by a Ukrainian forces’ armored vehicle.

Tensions have been boiling in Konstantinovka after Ukrainian
soldiers driving through the town at high speed lost control of
their vehicle and ran into a crowd of pedestrians, hitting a
woman with a baby in a stroller and killing the older girl.

“The accident occurred at the Lomonosov Street near City
Hospital No. 5. Three pedestrians suffered under the wheels of
the fighting vehicle: A girl aged eight died on the spot, a woman
and a child in a stroller were taken to hospital,” Ukraine's
Interior Ministry reported Monday night.

Locals believe the driver of the vehicle was drunk at the time of
the accident. According to local press, the perpetrators barely
escaped the scene of the crime, as the fury of the locals erupted
in clashes, with stones being thrown at security vehicles. Other
residents were quick to surround the army barracks, where warning
shots were reportedly fired.

Following the incident, enraged people gathered in front of the
military unit stationed in the local school building, demanding
the military surrender those who were involved in the hit and run
accident, Sputnik reported. The crowd has also reportedly set
fire to the entrance of the dorms of the Ukrainian forces.

“In the evening, near the dorms occupied by security forces,
several hundred local residents gathered. They shouted:
‘Fascists!’ And threw stones at the windows of the barracks, set
fire to two cars of the National Guard and overturned a third. In
response, security forces fired several shots into the air,”
one eyewitness told Sputnik. One of the people from the crowd
reportedly threw a Molotov cocktail at one of the dorm windows,
starting a fire.

According to Popular Front deputy Anton Gerashchenko,
shoot-to-kill orders are enforced in Konstantinovka, to stop
those trying to “incite” the violence.

“If someone in Kostyantynivka uses arms to oppose the laws of
the Ukrainian authorities, uses this accident (hit and run) for
mass unrest, then we will fire one warning shot, and then will be
shooting to kill. If there is no time to warn , we will be
shooting to kill immediately,” said Gerashchenko. “No
one is allowed to undermine the Ukrainian government with arms in
their hands.”

The Ukrainian soldiers responsible for the incident reportedly
fled the scene in a taxi. Authorities later announced that the
perpetrators were detained.

“Those responsible for the accident, two soldiers, were
detained and handed over to the military prosecutor,”
announced Vyacheslav Abroskin, head of Donetsk Regional Police,
loyal to Kiev.

According to unconfirmed reports on social media, additional
reinforcements were dispatched to Konstantinovka to quell the
unrest. Some alleged those might include members of the radical
nationalist units. Meanwhile Ukraine’s Interior Ministry
announced that a task force from the General Staff of the Armed
Forces was sent to lead the investigation, promising to punish
those responsible.

Kiev authorities also report that they have singled out the
individual they believe was solely responsible for the en masse
reaction against the negligence of Kiev’s forces. A Ministry of
Internal Affairs spokesman for Donetsk Region, Ilya Kiva,
promised that the “instigator” will soon be caught and
be brought to justice. Kiva also urged Konstantinovka residents
to stay calm and not to incite further violence.